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Opinions
Will the Trump Administration be a Wet Blanket for Natural Refrigerants? The new president’s positions on climate change and regulatory reform raise concerns, but the growing demand for natural refrigerants worldwide as a replacement for HFCs should continue — By Mark Menzer and James Knudsen
In
recent times, the trend towards more sustainable air conditioning and refrigeration equipment has been steady and even accelerating. Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations have helped drive refrigeration equipment towards higher efficiencies using low-GWP (global warming potential) refrigerants. World-wide acceptance of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, which set a global schedule for an HFC phase-down, seemed to seal the deal. But few predicted the sea change of politics in Washington taking place with the election of Donald J. Trump. Will the move to natural refrigerants be slowed or even reversed in the coming years? Although the political winds have changed, there are reasons to be optimistic that the momentum achieved in phasing down the use of high-GWP refrigerants will continue. There are also reasons for concern. The Obama policy engine that pushed for carbon reductions, energy efficiency, and movement to low-GWP gases is being replaced by an EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, who questions the effects that humans have on climate change, and by a DOE secretary, Rick Perry, whose stated goal is to eliminate the department he was appointed to lead. Ominous, indeed, for those working to promote the use of efficient, climatefriendly refrigerants. Further, some of the climate change initiatives were accomplished by unilateral executive orders, some of which can be almost as easily undone by the new president. One thing that hasn’t changed is the continuing, mounting evidence of human-induced climate change. Adding to the abundance of existing evidence, NASA recently reported that each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally on record.
James Knudsen, Danfoss Accelerate America
January 2017